Installation

Detailed installation guide for production environments.

System Requirements

• OS: Linux (Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, Debian 13 recommended) or macOS
• Architecture: x86_64 (amd64) or ARM64
• Memory: 512MB minimum, 1GB recommended
• Disk: 10GB minimum for registry storage
• Runtime: Docker or Podman

Download Gordon

Quick Install (Recommended)

curl -fsSL https://gordon.bnema.dev/install | bash

This script automatically detects your OS (Linux/macOS) and architecture (amd64/arm64), downloads the appropriate binary from GitHub releases, and installs it to /usr/local/bin.

Manual Installation

Linux (x86_64)

wget https://github.com/bnema/gordon/releases/latest/download/gordon_linux_amd64.tar.gz
tar -xzf gordon_linux_amd64.tar.gz
chmod +x gordon
sudo mv gordon /usr/local/bin/

Linux (ARM64) - for Raspberry Pi 4, AWS Graviton, Oracle Ampere, etc.

wget https://github.com/bnema/gordon/releases/latest/download/gordon_linux_arm64.tar.gz
tar -xzf gordon_linux_arm64.tar.gz
chmod +x gordon
sudo mv gordon /usr/local/bin/

macOS (Apple Silicon)

curl -LO https://github.com/bnema/gordon/releases/latest/download/gordon_darwin_arm64.tar.gz
tar -xzf gordon_darwin_arm64.tar.gz
chmod +x gordon
sudo mv gordon /usr/local/bin/

macOS (Intel)

curl -LO https://github.com/bnema/gordon/releases/latest/download/gordon_darwin_amd64.tar.gz
tar -xzf gordon_darwin_amd64.tar.gz
chmod +x gordon
sudo mv gordon /usr/local/bin/

Verify installation:

gordon version

From Source

# Requires Go 1.21+
git clone https://github.com/bnema/gordon.git
cd gordon
make build
sudo mv gordon /usr/local/bin/

Container Runtime Setup

Docker

# Install Docker
curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh

# Add user to docker group
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
newgrp docker

# Verify
docker run hello-world

Podman (Rootless)

Podman rootless mode provides enhanced security by running containers without root privileges.

# Install Podman
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y podman

# Enable user namespaces
echo 'user.max_user_namespaces=28633' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
sudo sysctl -p

# Setup subuid/subgid
sudo usermod --add-subuids 100000-165535 --add-subgids 100000-165535 $USER

# Enable Podman socket
systemctl --user enable --now podman.socket

# Configure insecure localhost registry
mkdir -p ~/.config/containers
cat > ~/.config/containers/registries.conf <<EOF
[registries.insecure]
registries = ['localhost:5000']
EOF

Firewall Configuration

Gordon needs ports accessible for the registry and proxy.

Using firewalld

# Install and enable firewalld
sudo apt install -y firewalld
sudo systemctl enable --now firewalld

# Allow HTTP/HTTPS
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=http
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=https

# For rootless containers, redirect privileged ports
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-forward-port=port=80:proto=tcp:toport=8080
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-forward-port=port=443:proto=tcp:toport=8443

# Apply changes
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify
sudo firewall-cmd --list-all

Using ufw

sudo ufw allow 80/tcp
sudo ufw allow 443/tcp
sudo ufw allow 5000/tcp  # Registry port (if accessing directly)
sudo ufw enable

Configuration

Gordon creates a default configuration on first run:

# Run once to generate config, then stop
gordon serve
# Press Ctrl+C

# Edit configuration
nano ~/.config/gordon/gordon.toml

Minimum required configuration:

[server]
port = 8080
registry_port = 5000
gordon_domain = "gordon.yourdomain.com"

[routes]
"app.yourdomain.com" = "myapp:latest"

See Configuration Reference for all options.

Systemd Service

User Service (Recommended for Rootless)

mkdir -p ~/.config/systemd/user
cat > ~/.config/systemd/user/gordon.service <<EOF
[Unit]
Description=Gordon Container Platform
After=podman.socket

[Service]
Type=simple
Restart=always
RestartSec=5
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/gordon serve

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target
EOF

# Enable and start
systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user enable --now gordon

# Enable linger (keep service running after logout)
sudo loginctl enable-linger $USER

# Check status
systemctl --user status gordon

System Service (Root Mode)

sudo cat > /etc/systemd/system/gordon.service <<EOF
[Unit]
Description=Gordon Container Platform
After=docker.service
Requires=docker.service

[Service]
Type=simple
Restart=always
RestartSec=5
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/gordon serve
User=root

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now gordon

DNS Configuration

Point your domains to your server:

Note: Enable Cloudflare proxy (orange cloud) for automatic HTTPS. Gordon receives HTTP traffic from Cloudflare.

Verify Installation

# Check Gordon is running
systemctl --user status gordon

# View logs
journalctl --user -u gordon -f

# Test registry (from local machine)
docker login registry.yourdomain.com
docker pull alpine
docker tag alpine registry.yourdomain.com/test:latest
docker push registry.yourdomain.com/test:latest

Data Directories

Gordon stores data in the following locations:

Related

• Getting Started
• Configuration Reference
• Podman Rootless Setup